A way to think about stewardship of one’s time:
Comments are welcome on this worksheet exercise for evaluating and setting some goals for tithing one’s time to kingdom building activities- either in “works of piety” (personal spiritual formation and cultivating one’s relationship with the Lord) or “works of mercy” (service to others-individuals, community, or church). For those who have not yet trusted God to provide if they tithe 10% of finances, offering an option to tithe 10% of their time may be a good place to start moving into a lifestyle of tithing. For those who tithe their financial resources, this is a natural additional way to examine and expand their concept of “tithe”.
Counting My Days: Stewardship of Time
Our priority in life is defined by how we spend our time and our money. Being good stewards of our money is necessary, but stewardship of our time is equally important. Here is a simple way to visualize a way to think about how we do that! Time may be adjusted to represent your personal habits.
Hours in a day: 24
Less time for sleep. -8
Less time for work. -8
Less time for meals/dressing -2
Less time for commute. -1
_____________
5
Day’s total remaining discretionary hours. – 5
Times 5 weekdays (5 hours X 5 days) 25
Plus Saturday hours (no work/commute) 14
Plus Sunday hours (no work/commute) 14
______
(A) Week’s total discretionary hours: 53
For 10% of my discretionary time to be offered to God-
Estimate- 5.0 to 5.5 hours per week
Suggested options and times for investing in kingdom activities listed below.
Include any worship, study, or volunteer service activities in which you are cultivating inward acts of piety or outward acts of mercy, as John Wesley would say!
Sunday Worship Service 1 hour
Sunday Group Gathering (Sunday School) 1 hour
Weekday Life Group Gathering 2 – 2.5 hours
Time with prayer partner/accountability 1 hour
Wednesday night Bible study 1 hour
Personal or group service work 1 – 3 hours
(usher, choir, prayer room, community volunteer, mentoring, teaching, etc.)
Personal devotional time (X 5 days a week) :
10 minutes daily= .82 hour
15 minutes daily= 1.25 hour
30 minutes daily= 2.5 hours
45 minutes daily= 3.75 hours
60 minutes daily= 5.0 hours
Insert your weekly devotional time. _______
(B). Sum of average week’s offering of my personal discretionary time:
Total hours _________
Stewardship % of time: (B) ➗ (A) 🟰 ______%